I’ve always been interested in writing, it’s been a passion since the third grade. I love to do it and I think it’s something I do fairly well. But it’s not always a fun pass time when the all too familiar struggles get in the way.
1. Plotting is easy; writing is hard.
In my head there’s a emotionally comprising storyline with well developed characters and enriching detail of breathtaking scenery! Then as I sit down to write it I get this: “The grass was green. There were trees. The girl was sad. The end."
2. Inspiration strikes at the most inconvenient time.
In class, when you really, really need to pay attention, when you’re so exhausted you can’t keep you eyes open, when you don’t have anywhere to write down your idea, or when there’s a cat on your lap and you just can’t move!
3. When you finally sit down to write, your inspiration is gone.
You try so hard to keep that inspiration locked away and ready to go for the moment you’re finally free to write it all down, but by that time it’s all gone and so is your motivation... and happiness.
4. Social media is your worst enemy.
So your inspiration is gone, surely Tumblr, Twitter, or Facebook will re-motivate you and spark some new ideas! Or so you think until it’s three hours later and you’ve stalked your third cousin’s wife’s boss’s daughter for no reason and you’ve taken about 12 of those ridiculous “Who’s in your mobster squad?” type quizzes, you know the ones. (And by the way, that random girl from my sister's elementary school class that friended me five years ago, is sooo not in my mobster squad, OK?) Oops.
5. Finding the fine line between showing and telling.
You know everything there is to know about your idea, whether it’s a creative piece or something like this, but how do you make sure you get all your plot points, character developments, and/or facts in without over explaining? In other words. how do you show in subtext what's happening instead of literally spelling it out in the text? Ugh.
6. How many commas are too many commas?
My rule of thumb is: ‘Does is look like I need a comma there? Kinda? Ok, sure, why not?!' and keep doing this until you have to ask yourself: “But now are there too many commas…?”
7. Where should I start a new paragraph?
To be honest, I sometimes wonder if this is just me. I’m never sure if I’m starting my paragraphs in the right spot. Much like the commas-- I just do it whenever it seems right and hope for the best!
8. People asking if they can read your stuff.
No! It's not ready yet! It's never ready!
9. You're too hard on yourself.
As you write, it feels like the story is flowing and moving so effortlessly. You feel like a machine and everything about your piece is just coming together so perfectly! And then you read it over. And you hate everything you've written. And you hate yourself. But everyone else loves it. The curse of being the writer is knowing what your vision was and what your reality is.
10. Breaking out of your preferred writing style is scary.
Writing articles like this is so difficult for me! I’m a fiction writer! How am I supposed to write witty and interesting non-fiction pieces that appeals to wide audience?! Answer: just do it and hope for the best!
11. There's always so much to say.
... and ideas! I’m sure I could think up a million more obstacles we all face as writers and in fact just typing that sentence I thought of about three more, but the key is learning when it’s time to stop.
Writing is never easy, let’s be real nothing worth doing is ever easy. But we’re not alone in our struggles to create the perfect piece of literature and we can all keep striving towards overcoming these difficulties and finally get around to writing our own great American novels… or that paper for that one class at least 80 percent of us know we should be doing right now.
